We’ve finished the game. Russian Volleyball Championship rocked by scandal

Passions suddenly flared up in Russian women’s volleyball, compared to which the confrontations in football and basketball arenas pale in comparison.

The semifinal series of the Russian Championship between Dynamo Moscow and Lokomotiv Kaliningrad received an unexpected continuation.

Advisor to Dynamo General Director Elena Godina accused her rivals of promoting the LGBT movement (the court decision declared it extremist).

“Same-sex kisses on the lips and other abominations”

In an appeal entitled “Stop tolerating this!”, published on the Dynamo club website, Godina admitted defeat, but noted what she considered unacceptable: “The main task of the Russian volleyball community and official governing bodies is to popularize volleyball in our country. We will limit ourselves to the women’s part of this sport, which celebrated its centenary last year. The LGBT community in the Russian Federation is recognized at the legislative level as an extremist organization; propaganda of this deviation from traditional values ​​among young people is prohibited. However, to our shame, close-up broadcasts of volleyball matches show monstrous gestures imitating sexual intercourse performed by Lokomotiv Kaliningrad players, directed towards the opposing teams, same-sex kisses on the lips and other abominations. A large number of families with children, future generations of volleyball players, come to the gyms. The match referees throughout the season did not even make a single comment for such behavior, which clearly qualifies as impunity and permissiveness in demonstrating complete disregard for the culture and moral values ​​of our country. Worse, all this meets with approval from teammates who dress up in satanic guises, while three of the Lokomotiv players are raising their own children!… I am categorically against all the events and facts described happening in my country, in within my Motherland, they insulted our multinational culture and history, and even during sports competitions!”

Sworn rivals and a legend of Russian volleyball

Volleyball Dynamo is a club with a very long history. The blue and white won the USSR championship 14 times and the Russian championship 8 times. The last time this happened was last season, and the opponent in the final was Lokomotiv from Kaliningrad.

The Kaliningrad team has existed for only six years, but during this time it has already won the Russian championships twice and taken second place three more times.

This year, too, the rivalry between Dynamo and Lokomotiv was called a “hidden final,” and it lived up to expectations: the clubs played all the maximum possible five matches, and the intensity of the struggle was prohibitive.

People who do not know the volleyball industry could assume that the appeal was written by a disgruntled official. However, Godina is a legend of Russian volleyball. World champion, three-time European champion, silver medalist of the 2000 Olympics, European Cup winner, best European player in 1997, and so on and so forth…

In general, if a person gave emotions, then this is by no means a case when the author does not know what he is talking about.

Ambiguous Turkish woman

The main complaints of Dynamo are addressed to a very specific person – all sorts of obscenities, of which the blue and white even made a video clip, belong to the “authorship” of a 24-year-old Turkish woman Ebrard Karakurt. The athlete has already won both the Champions League and the European Championship with the Turkish national team, and in 2023 she signed a contract with Lokomotiv Kaliningrad. Karakurt is considered a rising star in world volleyball, and is considered the best volleyball player on the planet.

In an interview with Sport Express, the Turkish woman explained the reasons for her move to Lokomotiv: “They told me that the conditions are at the level of the best clubs in Europe. “And from the point of view of infrastructure, some work issues, and in terms of the atmosphere, the attitude of the fans.”

In Turkey, Kararkurt has a difficult reputation, to put it mildly. The conservative part of society simply hates her – in 2021, the volleyball player posted a photo with her lover. And although she was supported by both the national federation and even himself Recep Erdoganshe experienced a certain pressure in her homeland.

No one in Russia particularly raised the topic of Ebrard’s predilections, although the sports media wrote about it. But at the decisive stage of the championship, passions became so intense that they also remembered this. It must be said that Karakurt herself really did not behave calmly on the court. Another thing is that Godina’s attack was seen by some as an attempt to settle the score with the opponents’ leader outside the court. Moreover, this distracted from another unpleasant moment – this time from Dynamo. Immediately after the final whistle in the decisive match, the club captain Natalia Goncharova I couldn’t contain my emotions. While the girls from Lokomotiv congratulated each other, Goncharova showed them obscene gestures through the net. For which Dynamo had to officially apologize. But immediately after this, Godina could no longer contain her emotions.

“What I posted, that is”

Dynamo General Director Vladimir Zinichev in an interview with the “Championship” portal he said: “The post that Lena posted on her site excited society. She expressed her opinion about how players behave on the court in the presence of children. She regarded this as propaganda of this forbidden subculture. And this caused a sharp reaction from Lokomotiv. The general director of the club, Alexander Petrovich Kosyrkov, called me and began to make some claims against me. To which I answered him: we didn’t draw the photographs that Lena posted. What I posted, that is. As for the conclusions, this is the position of Elena Godina. She has every right to it, she is an authoritative person in sports. You can, of course, fan the flames of what Godina said, but it would be more constructive for everyone to sort themselves out. For us – with the way we play. Kaliningrad – with the fact that they allow themselves in the presence of children and fans who came to watch volleyball, and not the sexual gestures of the players that their players post on social networks.”

Godina brought into the public space a topic that people usually try not to touch upon – same-sex relationships in women’s sports. Their existence is known to everyone who comes into contact with this topic, but it is not customary to develop this story. Girls who love girls in Russia try to behave quietly, and make policy statements only when they go abroad – it is politically fashionable there, and this can be used to promote their popularity.

It is not clear what to do now with Russian women’s volleyball, where they decided to tear off the covers. Most likely, after catching their breath, the parties will try to return to their usual framework. Neither Dynamo, nor Lokomotiv, nor the national federation need problems.